Ancient Rome Name Generator

A free Roman citizen of the Republic and early Empire carried the tria nomina: a praenomen (personal name), a nomen (the gens or clan) and a cognomen (a branch or nickname). Gaius Julius Caesar is Gaius of the Julian gens, Caesar branch. Only about eighteen praenomina were in common use, which is why Marcus, Lucius, Gaius, Publius, Quintus and Titus appear so often. The nomen ends in -ius, and cognomina began as descriptions: Rufus (red-haired), Cicero (chickpea), Brutus (dull), Scaevola (left-handed), Africanus (an honorific for conquering Africa).

Women were formally known by the feminine form of the father's nomen alone: a daughter of the Cornelii was Cornelia. Sisters were told apart with Maior and Minor, or Prima, Secunda and Tertia, and later by a cognomen or the father's or husband's name in the genitive (Terentia Varronis, Clodia Metelli). Freed slaves took their former master's praenomen and nomen and kept their old name as a cognomen, which is how Cicero's secretary became Marcus Tullius Tiro.

The names here follow those rules exactly, drawing on real gentes and cognomina attested in inscriptions and literature. Use full three-part names for senators and equestrians, and shorter forms like Titus Pullo for soldiers and ordinary citizens.